All the stakeholders and the children who had shared their success stories and projects with Google’s team in Singapore gathered at the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom (MoIT&T) to mark the successful completion of Phase 2 of the Google CS First program and Be Internet Awesome.
The purpose of this phase is to help underprivileged children learn coding through Google CS First and to make them ‘internet awesome’ by introducing them to safe internet surfing.
Given children’s high exposure to the digital world nowadays, it is essential to familiarize them with its dos and don’ts to keep them safe and help them benefit from the internet.
Speaking at the event, Federal Minister for IT&T Syed Amin Ul Haque remarked,
I believe this program has the potential to lay a good foundation for ICT Development in the country, as in 10-15 years time, we will have young coders and programmers who will, by the Grace of Almighty Allah, be making good strides in the coding community and creating amazing applications and software.
He said that his ministry is working on the development of youth as they are the future of Pakistan, highlighting that it is very positive that 316 students and 69 teachers had been trained in the first two phases of this program. He also emphasized that it is the need of the hour to equip Pakistan’s youth with digital skills.
Minister Haque said that empowering women is an important motto of the MoIT&T, and it is taking strong initiatives for the provision of internet services in far-flung areas of the country.
MD of the Telecom Foundation Syed Zomma Mohiuddin said that the Google CS1 program has provided the right means of education and has enabled students despite all the disadvantages of the pandemic.
CEO of Tech Valley Pakistan Umar Farooq stated,
We aim to create Google CS First coding clubs for kids in different schools of Pakistan where they can learn grass-root coding and receive mentorship from experienced trainers.
Based on the success and interest generated through the first two phases, talks about taking Google CS First to the national level are underway. For this purpose, Tech Valley Pakistan will organize a hackathon for children (aged 9-14) in which students will create story-based interactive games from scratch.